The present invention relates to cutters, and in particular pipe or tube cutters.
Various configurations of tube and pipe cutting devices are known to those skilled in the art. A pliers-type tubing cutter is known to include first and second handle members pivotably coupled together and including first and second jaws. Cutting assemblies are supported within each jaw and include spaced and rotatable cutting discs which engage an exterior of a conduit to effect cutting of the conduit during manual rotation of the tool. Another known tool discloses a tubing cutter of selectable force is also known where an elongate cavity is disposed in the body member in substantial alignment with a pair of rollers, and an elongate ram member is slidably disposed in a non-rotatable manner in the elongate cavity, such that one end of the ram member supports a cutter wheel. The cutter wheel is rotatably supported in an opposed relationship to the rollers, and a rotatable adjustment device is located on the body member at a location comparatively remote from the rollers. The rotatable adjustment device is selectively rotatable to control the positioning of the ram member and therefore the positioning of the cutter wheel with respect to the rollers. The selective rotation of the rotatable adjustment device modifies the force applied to the ram member by the spring, and the force applied to the cutter wheel, to selectively control the amount of force consistently applied by the cutter wheel during the cutting of tubing residing on the rollers.
While these devices adequately perform the function of cutting piping or tubing, the devices do not perform the additional function of simultaneously cleaning the outer periphery of the pipe or tubing, which is a necessary step in the preparation of an end of tubing during the assembly operation. After using the known pipe cutters, it is necessary to locate a separate pipe-end-cleaning tool to perform the cleaning operation after the cutting process has been completed.
It would be desirable in the present invention to provide a single tool capable of cutting piping or tubing, while simultaneously cleaning the external periphery of the piping or tubing in a single step operation. The present invention provides a tube or pipe cutter suitable for cutting copper pipe and plastic tube. The tube cutter tool according to the present invention includes a plurality of cutters on adjustable spring tension supports in a pliers-type configuration. The pliers-type configuration can include a slot to adjust for different size pipes between the jaws of the pliers. A plurality of cleaning elements or polishing rods for copper pipe can be included between the plurality of cutters.